U District Mobility, Workshop 1

Topical Twitter hashtags
#Udistrictmobility
#udmobility

also #transittalks and #transitequity for the event on March 6 2018

website: udmobility.com

Topical Twitter handles @udmobility  @UDistrictLetsGo

Short Description of the Neighborhood Matching Fund Grant which is part of the funding for this project
http://frontporch.seattle.gov/2017/12/12/nmf-awards-fall-2017/
$42,000 to U District Advocates to coordinate a participatory coalition of stakeholders from the community, city, university, and transportation agencies. Over 6-8 months, the coalition will design a comprehensive Community Mobility Vision Plan in the U District to manage walking, biking, transit, driving, and freight. (Community match: $54,000)

RantWoman's life is very rich in Sound Transit station construction, both in her 'hood, and in the U district where she travels frequently. RantWoman tends to be interested in public participation events. Here RantWoman is kind of doing brain dump about the U District mobility project. The project just held the first of 3 planned workshops aimed at developing a draft mobility plan for the light rail station set to open in 2021 at Brooklyn Ave NE and NE 43rd in the U district.

RantWoman digests the event in the form of two announcements aimed at encouraging people she knows to sign up for updates and look for ways to participate.

Version 1.
U District Mobility is working with several stakeholder organizations including the UW, the U district Partnership, transit agencies, Children's Hospital and other
groups about a multimodal mobility plan specifically for the Brooklyn
Ave Light rail station set to open in 2021. At the first of 3
workshops participants mapped their travel patterns and tossed out
ideas such as making NE 43rd St pedestrian and Bike only between the
station and UW or running some kind of neighborhood circulator bus so
people can do business without relying on a car. Readers who walk,
drive, bike, use transit for any reason in the U district may wish to visit the site above or connect via twitter and sign up for email updates or consider participating in upcoming
workshops in April and May to help shape this group's recommendations.


Version 2
A group called U District Mobility udistrictmobility.com is working
with several stakeholder organizations about a multimodal mobility
plan specifically for the new Brooklyn Ave Light rail station. At the
first of 3 workshops participants learned that pedestrian traffic is
likely to increase considerably. People also mapped their travel
patterns and tossed out ideas about bus routings, sidewalk and bike
amenities. Should NE 43rd St pedestrian and Bike only between the
station and UW? Should there be some kind of neighborhood circulator
bus? Readers may wish to sign up for email updates or to participate
in upcoming workshops in April and May to help shape the proposed
mobility plan.

Enough said for now, probably. RantWoman had to leave and will have to check herself about next steps but in the meantime: Event accessibility.

Honestly, even though RantWoman does fabulously about griping and complaining, RantWoman would not mind fewer needs to do so. So, humbly, comments about the event.

One positive. RantWoman had a snack and then decided just to stand around with Ambassador Thwack. At least two people at different times offered to walk RantWoman through the interactive mapping papers. RantWoman thinks her travel patterns were decently well represented in the data collection. Afterward though RantWoman realized she was interested in everyone else's travel patterns and a second walk-through might be in order.

Now, the gripes:

Lighting? Meh. Enough said for now.

Accessibility for people with mobility limitations:  RantWoman has scheduled events at the University heights community Center and is pretty sure the building has an elevator, but RantWoman could not find it and did not think to ask. Ummm, if one is interested in data about the travel needs of people with mobility challenges, it is a good idea to hold one's event in a place accessible to people with mobility issues. There were several voices speaking to concerns about people with mobility limitations but there was another problem, too many tables.

The room was set up optimistically as far as number of participants. There wound up being about 3  or 4 groups for the small group exercises. Probably about half the tables could have been left in storage and brought out if needed. RantWoman collected the info awhile ago that 36" is a good width to allow for ailes  when setting up furniture and expecting wheelchair users. Fewer tables also would have made it easier for everyone, not just wheelchair users to move around.

But enough. The process is off to a good start and RantWoman will see what she can do about getting some people she knows to participate.